If the 2017 Global Wellness Summit was any indication, we’re finally catching on. By Vivienne O’Keeffe Freedom from preventable disease Feeling victimized by the pervasive bad news and constant chirping that seem to characterize life today? It’s hard not to be. But after coming away from the annual Summit of the Global Wellness Institute (GWI) in Palm Beach, Florida – and its theme of disease prevention – my battered outlook has...

Cozying up to tech can help your spa business. But not too close. Last November, the Mandarin Oriental in Las Vegas introduced an unusual new team member to welcome guests. Pepper – a robot with big bird eyes and an endearingly petite stature – can assess gender, age, facial, body and voice cues, and even mood, then customize ‘her’ verbal greetings to each guest. It’s not hard to imagine how a Spa Pepper could put repeat clients at ease by...

Without a top-to-bottom commitment to delivering an authentic experience, your spa business could run out of gas By Vivienne O’Keeffe The good news is that U.S. spa visits surpassed 180 million for the first-time last year, an annual increase of 2.5 per cent. Income also set a new record of $16.8 billion, up 3.1 per cent, with the total number of spa businesses up 1.1 per cent. The bad news? If sinking morale and staff shortages aren’t...

Will your business benefit from medi-spa treatments like laser and CoolSculpting? What you need to ask yourself By Vivienne O’Keeffe Many spas have already added medical spa treatments to their existing list of services. The two most prominent ones – laser treatments and CoolSculpting® – require not only a significant capital outlay, but also staff and training to run them. The first step in figuring out if they’re right for you is to look at...

New discoveries about the skin’s connection to happiness, immunity and possibly even autism may dramatically alter the way we deliver touch therapy By Vivienne O’Keeffe Published in Spa Inc. magazine’s Summer 2017 issue It seems the body’s largest organ might also be the least understood. The mystery began in 1939, when Swedish physiologist Yngve Zotterman noticed unusual electrical responses from cats’ legs being slowly stroked...

Our sense of smell can open many doors By Vivienne O’Keeffe Published in Spa Life magazine’s Summer 2017 issue Ever walked into a place you hadn’t been to for years and instantly recalled the smell? Maybe a church, a campsite, a ferry boat, or an aunt’s house? Smell can access your memory recall in an instant, as if you have fallen through a trap door and stepped back in time. The smell of baking bread from a wood burning stove, for...